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Zeroes  By  cover art

Zeroes

By: Scott Westerfeld,Margo Lanagan,Deborah Biancotti
Narrated by: Amber Benson
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Publisher's summary

X-Men meets Heroes when New York Times best-selling author Scott Westerfeld teams up with award-winning authors Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti to create a sizzling new series filled with action and adventure.

Don't call them heroes.

But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart.

Take Ethan, aka Scam. He's got a voice inside him that'll say whatever you want to hear, whether it's true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn't - like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren't exactly best friends these days.

Enter Nate, aka Bellwether, the group's "glorious leader". After Scam's SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the recue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.

Filled with high-stakes action and drama, Zeroes unites three powerhouse authors for the opening installment of a thrilling new series.

©2015 Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

What listeners say about Zeroes

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

had some “feel-good” moments within

Zeroes is touted as being X-men meets Heroes and it really fits for this story. It follows a group of six seemingly random characters who all have different abilities. They use the typical superhero mantra’s throughout (with great power… type stuff). Follow this group of “zeroes” as they call themselves as they band together to try and work together and figure out the extent their “powers” go.

The narration for this was done by Amber Benson and she was perfect for this role. Though it could have been easily done by numerous narrators (like The Beam) one for each character. Sometimes that can become confusing. At least the authors of this realized that they were dealing with 6+ points of view and they started each chapter with a name so we know who we’re dealing with. Benson really becomes some of these characters and does a great job filling the voids that just reading the book can sometimes leave.

The story was interesting. I haven’t really watched Heroes and I’ve only seen some of the X-men movies, but this does really seem to follow the same type of story. The part that I like most is that you cannot even tell that it was written by three different authors. The fact that they pulled that off is extremely difficult and I’m glad that it worked out the way it did.

The story was very difficult to follow unless you were listening to it pretty intently. No reading while doing chores type of a book. I mostly listened while driving or working out and found myself having to go back because I wasn’t sure who’s part it was (partially because of what I mentioned earlier just having one narrator).

Overall, the story wasn’t exactly what I was hoping it would turn out to be, but it still had some “feel-good” moments within. I grabbed this audiobook just based on the one author (Westerfield), but since reading this, I may be checking into the other two authors too. This is an audiobook I’m glad I checked out, but I won’t be looking for any others (if this is made into a series) in the near future).

Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Maybe SCAM should have just walked home

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really. I spent the most part (of listening to this book) wishing it were over. I really did not connect well with the characters and in fact disliked a lot of them. And I feel that the only point that got me to stay (SCAM and ANON's budding friendship) didn't get much of a resolution or closure or a continuation. It's like all that bonding and then suddenly it gets VERY much overshadowed by what I felt to be unnecessary (and a little bit tacked-on) romantic entanglement(s).

Would you be willing to try another book from the authors? Why or why not?

YES. I thought the story was ok. I just didn't like the characters (for most of the duration of the book). And I've experienced loving one book but hating another book by the same author. I'm thinking that perhaps this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

Have you listened to any of Amber Benson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't listened to other audiobooks narrated by Amber Benson. But I thought she did a great job with this book. With this book being told from Multiple POVs, I thought her to be very talented. I enjoyed her performance and loved how she made me able tell which character was talking just by how different her voice and accent goes per character

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It depends on how the potential trailer looks like.

Any additional comments?

To be honest, it took me a long time to actually warm up to the characters. The initial chapters did not make me sympathetic to any of the POV characters at all. And the only reason I continued was because of me stubbornly thinking that I might as well finish this book because I already spent a credit on it and because I'd at least want to finish what I started.

But to be fair, what made the initial chapters pay off is the climax. I found these characters so unlikeable in the first chapters that it actually meant A LOT to me when they actually do something heroic, when they actually put OTHER people before their own needs. That's something that I feel made the last part of the book worth reading.

My favorite part (and what actually helped me a lot to finish listening to this book) was SCAM and ANON's budding friendship. Where they actually do have a sort of heart to heart. And while I initially hated SCAM, I actually came to like him because of his sincerity of his feelings of friendship (BROTP) with ANON.

UNFORTUNATELY, this was overshadowed by what I feel was unnecessary romantic entanglements with the lady zeroes (which just annoyed the heck out of me because I feel that there wasn't enough buildup for it). I honestly felt that the book would have been better off without the romance or at least if the romance was put off for the next book.

I just feel that if they wanted to have romance in the Zeroes series, then it would have been better to use book 1 to build it up better than have it happen so suddenly.

I definitely like how there's a couple of conditions to be met in order for the Zeroes to have optimal use of their powers. Because these powers have limitations and are a double-edged sword. For the most part, these certainly caused the Zeroes themselves trouble. But by being able to at least make the best of situations in order to meet the best use of their powers, it definitely pays off at the climax.

Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would have bought the audiobook. However, I think that this is only because it wasn't my cup of tea. I'm just saying that the book should have focused more on friendships than having a romance tacked on to it

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Zeros not heros

Amber Benson gives so much to this book it's amazing. Her voices are perfection.

Scott Westerfeld can do no wrong.

Buy it. Love it. Share it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Loved It!

This is one of the best books I've listened to this year! One of my favorite things is how uncommon the abilities of the Zeroes are. It's a very fresh take on the superhero genre!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Can't wait for the next one in the series

I love everything by Scott Westerfeld. All the characters are so broken but also relatable.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book,

Loved the characters. Hope for a sequal! I thought the concept was new and different!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wait for it...

It take around 10 chapters to really start rockin but the character development and world building really needed those chapters. There are six main characters which by the end you get to see them for their past their flaws their love and their powers.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 08-30-22

Kids with non-physical powers that work best on 6+

Clever twist on teen superheroes. Unofficial group of no-longer friends who had had dreams of greatness. The powers are all non-physical and almost all require more than 6 people around them to function well. The subtitlular claim of the powers having prices is perhaps too broad but where done, it's done very well, The Anonymous character's backstory was especially heart-wrenching.
Beautifully narrated with subtle accents for different characters.
Wrapped up nicely and doubt there will be a sequel but would likely read were one to appear.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

kinda of dragged on

I kept wanting the pace of the story to pick up but it never seemed to. there were parts I appreciated but overall I wish it had picked up the pace. The writing is quality.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I love and hate Benson's voicing method

It took me a while longer to listen verses read this book due to the voicing. i love how Benson distinctly voices each narrator, but I disliked some of the voices used. I don't like high pitched females and some were the mental equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.

The book was good. I love Westerfeld's writing and even his collabs like this are fun. Scary fun. It is pleasantly assuring that this story isn't plausible like the Uglies Trilogy.

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